Experts: Trade war with Canada would hurt Arizona businesses, consumers

Even a skirmish could dent the partnership Arizona businesses have with Canada

By Corina Vanek | Phoenix Business Journal

A trade war with Canada would hurt Arizona consumers and businesses, business advocates and international business experts say.

Even a skirmish could dent the partnership Arizona businesses have with Canada, the state’s second-largest export market at $2.15 billion and third-biggest import market at $1.45 billion, according to 2017 numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau.

“If the average Arizonan thinks that a spat over tariffs is just a bilateral issue between two leaders, think again,” said Garrick Taylor, senior vice president of government relations and communications for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “This causes prices to go up, and options and variety to go down.”

Taylor called the increasing tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from Canada, the European Union and Mexico “an indirect way to tax the American people,” and said the tariffs, and subsequent threats of retaliatory tariffs from Canada were “worrisome.”